Ministry of Culture announces names of winners of the State Appreciation Award for the year 2023

Damascus (ST): The Ministry of Culture announced the names of the winners of the State Appreciation Award for the year 2023.  In the field of literature, the award went to the poet Bayan Al-Safadi, in the field of arts, the award went to the actor Nadine Khoury, while in the field of criticism, studies and translation, the award went to to Dr. Khalaf Al-Jarad.

The writer and poet Bayan Al-Safadi was born in the village of Al-Ghariya in Sweida Governorate in 1956. He holds a degree in Arabic language and literature, and has held cultural positions in managing and editing several Arab magazines and newspapers. He has published and composed works in more than one field, some of which have won awards. He has taught courses in Arab countries, and has dozens of publications for children and adults in poetry, stories, theater, research, and literary criticism. He has participated in many conferences, seminars, festivals, and jury committees in Syrian and Arab competitions for adults and children.

As for the actor Nadine Khoury, she entered the world of art through cinema. She began her career through her participation in three works with the General Cinema Foundation, which are My Love, My Mulberry Love, Killed by Sequence, and The Fifth Castle. She then moved to television, and her first work was through the series Haret Al-Sayyadin (The Quarter of Fishermen).

She has more than 150 dramatic works and dozens of cinematic films to her credit. She won a number of awards inside and outside Syria, and was also honored by several local and Arab entities.

As for Dr. Khalaf Al-Jarad, he is a researcher, writer, and journalist, born in Al-Hasakah in 1950. He holds a doctorate in philosophical sciences in 1980 from Leningrad State University in the former Soviet Union. He worked as a full-time researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies and Research at the University of Damascus, editor-in-chief of Tishreen newspaper, general director of the Al-Wahda Foundation, and ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic in the People’s Republic of China. He has so far published 19 books, both written and translated, and he is a member of the Arab Writers Union.

K.Q.